About George Thompson
Location: Missouri
Occupation: Writer
Bio: Bio I was born in the small town of Ironton, Missouri in the mid-40s. My father was a minister and my mother was the devoted pastor’s wife. We moved when I was three to Kansas City where Dad pastored several churches, then moved to Fulton in 1960 where I graduated from Fulton High School in 1962. Dad was pastor at the Southside Baptist Church from 1960 through 1967. It was during those teenage years that I started writing poetry, articles, short stories and novels. Many poems were of a “grim” nature because I was usually either frustrated or felt depressed when I wrote them. Further in-depth study of myself helped me to see matters in a different, more enlightened way and gave me a much greater peace Bio of mind. That feeling came about when I realized that a Higher Power held control over my life and although I felt free here on earth to explore many things because God gave me the mind to make my own decisions based on the “terms” I had set for myself it was I who set the terms and levels of frustration and worry. Once I turned everything over to God, my writings became more positive and that feeling of emptiness I once had was lifted. My faith in God and the good intentions of mankind grows daily. I believe in the power of words, whether they are written, spoken or through the motions and spelling in sign language. They can be used to empower or defeat, accept or deny. My poetry is just one of many means of communicating. Retired now, I make my home in Ironton once again after being gone for sixty years. I write a poem every day, an article or two a week and have a continuing column at wickedwordsmith.com on the Web. My pleasures are writing, feeding birds and taking care of my new cat, Mandi.
Posts: 146
More from this author
Play that symphony loud!
The start of August Rush is slow but that’s only to show that Evan—as he is called at the time—lives in a boy’s home, is ten years old and made fun of all the time because he hears music in everything around him. He knows his real parents are alive so he sneaks off, no money and only the clothes on his back because the music he hears in also telling him that he will find his mother and father if he goes to New York.
The first fifteen minutes also tell us the story of how his mother and father met outside a music hall, fell in love, spent the night together, and then out of love. They parted with his father, Louis (Johnathan Rhys Meyers), leaving for San Francisco to sing with his brothers in dives, Lyla (Keri Russell) becoming a well known cellist in Chicago after giving Evan up for adoption. Lyla is invited to play one more concert in New York and she says yes. Louis learns Lyla will be in concert and he flies to New York to be present for the event.
Evan gets lost and taken in by strangers who are led by a mysterious man known as Wizard (Robin Williams). He puts Even (Freddie Highmore) on the streets playing a guitar for bucks and renames him August Rush. But August hears more than just a few guitar notes; he hears an entire symphony in his head and knows that his mother and father are close. He can feel it in the air, sense it in the rhythm on the street and in the subway.
This was a well done exploit in decency and integrity. Of course, one has to assume that the parents--upon seeing their son--rushed into his awaiting arms and took him with them. That they worked out where they lived and compromised on whether they would settle in Chicago or San Francisco. Therefore, the ending could have been a little longer instead of implying that they all lived happily ever after. The directing is excellent and evident by what the director extracted from Freddie Highmore. Meyers does a splendid job of singing and is featured on the CD that has since come out. Keri Russell does an excellent job and Robin Williams is laid back in his role as Wizard.
The bonus feature on August Rush is deleted scenes.
The meet up at the ending is a tearjerker and would make anyone want to cry after all August has been through to find his parents. I say well done.
